Add parallel Print Page Options

14 But Zion said, “Yahweh has forsaken me,
    and the Lord has forgotten me.”
15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child,
    that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?
Yes, these may forget,
    yet I will not forget you!
16 Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.
    Your walls are continually before me.
17 Your children hurry.
    Your destroyers and those who devastated you will leave you.
18 Lift up your eyes all around, and see:
    all these gather themselves together, and come to you.
As I live,” says Yahweh, “you shall surely clothe yourself with them all as with an ornament,
    and dress yourself with them, like a bride.
19 “For, as for your waste and your desolate places,
    and your land that has been destroyed,
surely now that land will be too small for the inhabitants,
    and those who swallowed you up will be far away.
20 The children of your bereavement will say in your ears,
    ‘This place is too small for me.
    Give me a place to live in.’
21 Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has conceived these for me, since I have been bereaved of my children
    and am alone, an exile, and wandering back and forth?
Who has brought these up?
    Behold, I was left alone. Where were these?’”

Read full chapter

14 But Zion(A) said, “The Lord has forsaken(B) me,
    the Lord has forgotten me.”

15 “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
    and have no compassion on the child(C) she has borne?
Though she may forget,
    I will not forget you!(D)
16 See, I have engraved(E) you on the palms of my hands;
    your walls(F) are ever before me.
17 Your children hasten back,
    and those who laid you waste(G) depart from you.
18 Lift up your eyes and look around;
    all your children gather(H) and come to you.
As surely as I live,(I)” declares the Lord,
    “you will wear(J) them all as ornaments;
    you will put them on, like a bride.

19 “Though you were ruined and made desolate(K)
    and your land laid waste,(L)
now you will be too small for your people,(M)
    and those who devoured(N) you will be far away.
20 The children born during your bereavement
    will yet say in your hearing,
‘This place is too small for us;
    give us more space to live in.’(O)
21 Then you will say in your heart,
    ‘Who bore me these?(P)
I was bereaved(Q) and barren;
    I was exiled and rejected.(R)
    Who brought these(S) up?
I was left(T) all alone,(U)
    but these—where have they come from?’”

Read full chapter